The San Francisco 49ers are moving. The Oakland Athletics are moving. The Sacramento Kings, Seattle Supersonics and New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets are moving.
Why? With the exception of the Hornets, its all about money and fighting between owners and cities. Cities, especially middle-level ones like Oakland and Sacramento, are much less willing to pony up millions upon millions of dollars for pro sports teams. On election night, the Kings’ Maloof brothers ended up with the ‘disappointment’ of having measures for a new arena soundly rejected (although some are saying the Maloofs mailed it in on purpose). The Seattle Supersonics were unable to come to an agreement on a new arena in March, and have subsequently been purchased by an ownership group from Oklahoma City. The New Orleans Hornets, currently residing on Oklahoma City, are likely to move back to New Orleans despite low fan support pre-Katrina. The San Francisco 49ers are moving to Santa Clara, as owners are apparently sick of playing in the NFL’s “oldest and worst stadium”.
The Florida Marlins, also having trouble getting the city of Miami to pony up money for a new arena, are considering moving to San Antonio. The aforementioned Oakland Athletics are moving to Fremont, California. Interestingly, one sport where relocation/contraction hasn’t been talked about is the National Hockey League, where it was conventional wisdom eighteen months ago that several Southern-based teams would either move or be disbanded.
Is this an isolated confluence of circumstances or a trend? Pro sports give credibility to some cities, like Portland, Memphis or Green Bay. However, there are endless better uses of taxpayer money than adding more luxury boxes to a billion dollar stadium. Considering the bad blood players’ and owners’ actions can create (for example, the disaster that was the Charlotte Hornets early in this decade; the drag-racing death of Bobby Phills and the actions of owner George Shinn eventually led to the team’s relocation), it might not be in some cities’ best interest to keep on giving millions to professional sports.
